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Crypto Market Update (17 December 2018)

The market ran a steady consolidation over the weekend, but has recently begun a fairly widespread upward surge. Nearly all coins are in the green after having slowed to only $10 billion in 24 hours, trading volume has quickly risen up to almost $14 billion in 24 hours. MOAC (MOAC) and Revain (R) are the major stand outs of the top 100 coins by market cap - up over 44% and 34% respectively in the past 24 hours. The value of Bitcoin (BTC) is just short of at $3,500 for +6.0% and a total market dominance of 54.6%, and the value of Ethereum (ETH) is just over $90 for +6.0?% change in the past 24 hours. Market cap for the overall cryptocurrency market is now up almost $7 billion, rising to roughly $111 billion total.

Major Headlines

Switzerland Finalizing Fintech Laws

Certain countries have consistently pushed the boundaries of blockchain technology, integration and regulatory framework. As one of these countries, Switzerland is looking to finalize their legal framework for accommodating decentralized systems into their existing financial framework. The leaders believe the fintech movement makes sense.“Since an entry in a decentralised register accessible to interested parties can create publicity similar to the ownership of a security, it seems justified to attach similar legal effects to this entry.” It will just take finalizing frameworks for the common debates of “securities” vs. “assets,” and some of the less discussed topics. One example is bankruptcy proceedings, which would end up being greatly affected by the nature of an individual’s wealth held in cryptocurrencies as a security or an asset. They are also planning amendments to their Market Infrastructure Act to make sure that their entire country will have a seamless integration of blockchain related systems for finance.

Revolut’s Official Banking License

One of the major benefits of cryptocurrencies is their borderless nature. This is especially apparent in the EU and surrounding countries, where it has been a struggle to create effective common means for transactions between the large number of countries operating in such close proximity. Revolut is looking to forge a niche relating these issues using passporting rules and blockchain technology. The company has been granted a banking license in Lithuania, but because of laws made that run true for across the European region, they hope to grant their customers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Poland a “true current account and a non-prepaid debit card.” This will be no minor change, the company’s user base generates $4 billion in transaction volume per month, with 8,000 to 10,000 new accounts opened per day.

Mt. Gox Still Underwater

Mt. Gox is the notorious first major Bitcoin exchange that is no bankrupt and been involved in a series of lawsuits for several years. But in June this past summer, it looked to finally be cleared up with the company establishing a system to repay any lost Bitcoin to their customers. However, now group of Japanese investors is bringing a new lawsuit against Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles. They that Karpeles used customers’ funds for his own personal use, and are seeking a 10 year jail sentence. In their report, he transferred 341 million yen (or $3 million) of customers’ money from a Mt. Gox account to his personal account between September and December of 2013. They even went as far as to accuse the precise use of the money - “investing in a software development business for personal interest.”